La Verte: Skiing and bathing at the foot of majestic Mont Blanc

“The best skiers in the world make it down La Verte in around two minutes,” says my guide Alexis Dautcourt as we stand looking down at the start of the legendary 3,343m-long tree-lined run that’s used for world cup downhill races.

With an 870m vertical drop, the piste – green in name only – is not for the faint of heart. Alexis, an ESF instructor, turns and gives me a grin before adding: “But we will take it a bit slower.”

La Verte is the most challenging – and thrilling – of the 55km of runs that sits within Les Houches ski area. Lodged on the outskirts of Chamonix in the Haute-Savoie area of the French Alps, the compact domain is a favourite with skiers for its runs carved through snow-covered pine and larch forests, particularly on cloudy days.

But I hadn’t come from Chamonix. Instead, I had arrived at the 1,800m Plateau de Bellevue earlier that morning on the Mont Blanc Tramway from my base of Saint-Gervais-les-Bains. The rack-and-pinion railway has been transporting passengers since 1909, depositing them some 500 metres further up the mountain at the Nid d’Aigle and the start of the Voie Royale trail to reach the summit of the “roof of Europe”.

I have no climbing ambitions, rather I am here to explore this new-to-me ski area, and we spend the day cruising down the wide, empty slopes against a cinematic backdrop of the Fiz Massif and the mighty Mont Blanc, pausing only to refuel at midday on the sunny terrace of La Cha restaurant.

When it comes time to call it a day, I catch the last tram home and watch as the sun begins to slip behind the jagged mountaintops as we wend our way gently back down the mountain. I had arrived in Saint-Gervais-les-Bains two days earlier, taking the train from London to Paris and then changing for the TGV that speeds skiers from the capital towards the mountains. Arriving at Le Fayet train station, I hopped on board the newly opened 10-person 45-million-euro (£37.5m) Le Valléen gondola and, three minutes later, I was in the heart of Saint-Gervais and checked into the welcoming Coeur des Neiges hotel.

Saint-Gervais-les-Bains has long been a favourite with adventurers eager to summit the mighty Mont Blanc as well as travellers keen to soak in the town’s thermal waters. Flowing at 39C, the natural springs are renowned for their healing properties, said to cure respiratory conditions, soothing scars and burns.

Today, Saint-Gervais is also a favourite with skiers, providing access to not only Les Houches but the Domaine Évasion Mont-Blanc, an extensive ski domain with 400km of pistes that it shares with the nearby villages of Les Contamines, Combloux, Saint Nicolas de Véroce and Megève – the latter is famous for its A-list credentials and recently featured in an episode of the hit Netflix series Emily in Paris.

I wake early on my first morning and, after coffee and croissant in the hotel’s cosy dining room, I head to meet Alexis at the Alpin gondola, the second – and recently improved – link of the new Le Valléen lift and the entryway to the ski domain. At an altitude of just 850m, Saint Gervais is not a ski-in/ski-out resort. Once at the top, I tighten my boots, click on my skis and follow Alexis as he sets off down fresh corduroy tracks, carving sweeping turns under a china-blue sky. We spend the morning alternating between cruisy blues and more challenging reds, stopping every so often to soak up the kaleidoscopic Alpine views.

When it’s almost time for lunch Alexis leads me down the tree-lined black Princesse piste and towards Le Boitet. Newly opened this season, this slopeside restaurant is run by award-winning chef Emmanuel Renaut, who also owns the three-Michelin-starred Flocons de Sel in nearby Megève. Set in a traditional Savoyard chalet with a large sun-drenched terrace, Le Boitet promises hungry skiers a more traditional menu than its fine-dining counterpart and at a more affordable price point. We tuck into steaming bowls of pasta with truffles and generous portions of gooey croûte savoyarde and finish off with a generous slice of homemade tarte aux myrtilles.

Lunch is excellent but it’s by no means the only good meal that I enjoy during my time in Saint-Gervais. Despite its compact nature, the Alpine village is jam-packed with restaurants. One night we dine at local favourite Le Rond de Carotte, where I taste what quickly becomes the standout starter of my trip, a free-range poached egg in a parsley sauce. On another evening, we make a reservation at Le Galeta, where juicy steaks are grilled to perfection over an open fire. And, for our final lunch, I indulge in an enormous burger served with a thick layer of melted Reblochon cheese at the recently opened Hotel Plan B.

Of course, I can’t leave town without trying the thermal baths and on my final morning I catch the newly opened – and free to use – elevator that links the town centre with the famed spa in the valley below. Powered entirely by waste water, it’s one of a host of green initiatives introduced by the local mayor and delivers me to the entrance to the Thermes. There, I spend several hours soaking in the warm outdoor pools and plotting my imminent return to Saint-Gervais-les-Bains.

Factfile

There are regular daily flights with EasyJet from Edinburgh to Geneva. From Geneva it is one hour to Saint-Gervais-Les Bains. The three-star Coeur des Neiges sits in the heart of Saint-Gervais-les-Bains. Ski lessons and guides can be booked at the Saint-Gervais ESF Ski School. The Thermes Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc offer three-hour packages.